Equinox
by Nellie Potter
Summary: You think you know the stories by now. You don't. A heartless Queen of Hearts has more to her than meets the eye and a simple servant girl isn't all that simple. And here lies the story of how their paths intertwine. Cowritten with Madame Jasper


**A/N- Hello there readers! This is a new story that is cowritten with Madame Jasper! We hope you love reading the story as much as we love writing it! **

**Queen of Hearts/ Cora M.- Madame Jasper**

**Reagan Pendragon- Nellie Potter**

**Disclaimer: We don't own Once Upon a Time. This is for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement intended or whatever the hell it is.**

* * *

Sunlight streamed in through the windows of

(_Hell_)

the Queen of Hearts' palace. And though sunrise had just occurred, a young woman had already been up for hours, getting a start on her daily chores. She always had to be up before the sun if she wanted to finish everything on time. If she didn't, her majesty, the Queen of Hearts would get very angry with her. And a day was never pleasant when the Queen was angry.

Most days in

(_Hell_)

Wonderland were never pleasant anyway. Not for Reagan Pendragon. And ever since she had landed herself here, life had been a lot like… well, Hell.

Cora was sitting silently, until of course, she got thirsty. "Where is that girl?" she asked the room of courtiers. "Where is the girl!?"

"Ma'am?" a feeble voice rose from the terrified masked servants, "She was doing her chores- _is_ doing her chores."

The Queen of Hearts didn't remove her own mask, but still turned to look at the man with a big nosed mask who was cowering before her, the way she liked it. "What are you waiting for? Go get her."

Seeing that she wasn't going to send her wrath upon him, the big nose wearing masked man bowed before her and did exactly that: to look for her favorite servant.

The man was quick, not daring to keep his queen waiting. No one ever dared to do such a thing. To commit the act of keeping her majesty waiting meant punishment. And Cora's punishments were never to be looked forward to.

The servant girl was not that hard to find. Her routine was always the same and at this time of day, she was in the east wing, washing the windows. Reagan wondered why the queen made her wash the windows every day. Surely they didn't get that dirty so quickly?

Slightly panting from having to walk a long distance at a fast pace, the courtier strode up to the servant girl. While he was not higher in ranking than the queen, he was still higher in status than Reagan and therefore spoke to her as such. "The queen requests your presence," he said coldly.

With a sigh, Reagan relinquished her post at the windows and followed the courtier. He had a name at one point, but it was long forgotten, just as the others who allowed themselves to be masked and fade into the background.

When Reagan was facing Cora, she curtsied low in respect. Gods she hated doing that. So demeaning and just another reminder of who she was: nobody. "Yes, your majesty?"

"My tea, servant." Because that was all this girl was: a servant. She needed to be reminded of that every day of her miserable life. "I need my tea. Did you also finish the floors in the library? What about the kitchens?" she shot at Reagan, not bothering to have her process anything, "The grand hall? Please tell me you at least finished the windows!" Cora scoffed, "The windows are easy, dear. That's why I added them to your chores. I'm sure you can do it." If not then... it would not be good to be her.

The rapid firing of questions was always intimidating. The queen herself was intimidating. Still, Reagan kept her composure. She had to. "I finished the library and the kitchens," Reagan informed Cora, keeping her head up. Over the years she had trained herself to always just keep her head up. "I was finishing up the windows when you called for me. A-and I assure you that the grand hall is next."

She tried smiling to reassure Cora of her intentions. But it was weak. Everything she did nowadays was weak. To be honest, she had not been feeling well as of recently. "I shall go get your tea, your majesty." And again she curtsied low.

"Make it quick," Cora snapped, "For you know I don't like waiting." God forbid the Queen of Hearts to have to wait. "I expect you to finish all the chores by noon; we have an intruder that had come in yesterday."

The intruder was definitely an interesting one, seeing as she was a werewolf. "I would love for you to accompany me dear."

"Finish by the afternoon? But your Majesty-" Reagan had started to protest. Such work usually took her all day and into the night, even when she started before the sun woke up. Reagan had cut herself off though and tilted her head to the side. "You wish for me to accompany you?" Had she heard that correctly?

Cora rolled her eyes, losing her patience. She put her mask down and stared at Reagan. "Child that is what I had said was it not?" The Queen sighed, staring at the sun through one of the windows. "It's almost noon, you might want to hurry up."

The dark haired servant girl wanted to protest. But what could she say? This was Cora, the Queen of Hearts; all arguments were invalid. So Reagan sighed heavily with a little bow of her head. "Yes, your majesty."

Cora smiled at the servant girl, fidgeting in the chair slightly. "Good now, leave," she said and placed the mask right back onto her face, the courtiers standing and waiting to be told to do something.

The seventeen year old girl was quick to leave, not wanting to stick around. What was her task? Oh yes, make sure the queen received her tea and then finish her chores within two hours.

Two hours! That was quite impossible! If she wanted to come anywhere close to being done. Reagan decided that if she wanted to come at least a little bit close to completing her chores, she would need to stop cleaning the windows and move on. Hopefully Cora would not notice. It wasn't like the windows were dirty anyway; she had cleaned them yesterday.

Once in the kitchens, Reagan set to work making the tea. While she waited for the water to boil, she started feeling a little off. Reagan coughed into the crook of her arm and grimaced at what she saw staining her sleeve:

Blood.


End file.
